What In The Wide World Of Sports?

I can't remember the last time I was so irritated watching a sporting event. There were the Indianapolis Colts, winners of all 14 of their games, lining up against a very mediocre NY Jets team. At home. With a chance at history. So, what happens? Rookie coach Jim Caldwell pulls Peyton Manning and several other starters in the 3rd quarter, and the game goes from a Colts lead to the first loss of the season.

I was damn glad not to be one who paid for a ticket to this game. I would have wanted a refund. Good for the fans who booed throughout the latter part of the game. They were ripped off. They paid full price, they should have gotten to see a full team, for the full game.

The coach is apparently thinking that he wants to spare his stars potential injury. There are a few flies in that ointment.

First, look no further than the team's recent history. When they've rested players like this in the past, they've been eliminated early in the playoffs. The one Super Bowl win came in the season the Colts were a Wild Card team, playing every playoff game without rest, scrapping continuously. Why would anyone deviate from their own model for success?

As an Ohio State fan, I get the value of continuous play. Year after year, OSU rolls to a good record and a bowl game awaits. Because the Big Ten doesn't have a playoff, the Buckeyes have a month-long layoff. They come to the bowl game out of synch, rusty, and generally lose. Well, that's the same lesson as the Colts' playoff history.

I just hate the cowardice. Go for the brass ring! Try for perfection! How often does that opportunity come along?

If nothing else, Colts fans hopefully learned this: Never buy a ticket for the last home game. Exhibition season is at the front end of the season, but Colts management is unaware.

Pro-War Senate Democrats Pass Defense Budget

Let's see... The Dems have roughly a 60-40 majority in the Senate. Republicans hold the reputation for being hawks. Can't wage two wars without big money. $628 Billion in the bill. Will the Dems oppose their Administration? From Politico:

Coming in at dawn Saturday in the middle of a snowstorm, the Senate finally caught up with its budget calendar, approving a $626 billion bill to fund the Defense Department for the fiscal year that began nearly three months ago.

The lopsided 88—10 vote followed a 63-35 roll call in which most Republicans stood back and again forced Democrats to come up with the super-majority needed to waive budget rules before passage. The measure now goes to the White House where President Barack Obama is expected to quickly sign the bill into law to end the impasse.

So, only 10 Democrats voted against? I guess it's fair to call bullshit whenever a Democrat claims the desire to hem in 'the military-industrial complex'.

Nice, how the media buried this story. Almost like it didn't happen. Must be nice to have a complicit media so as not to upset the Democratic base that would largely like to see us out of Iraq (esp) & Afghanistan, and to curb the military budget. They can't count on the people they elected to do their will. But, if there's one thing we can count on with a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President, it's gigantic spending at every turn.

Fishers, Restaurant Graveyard

In the five years I've lived in Fishers, I've seen a surprisingly large number of decent restaurants come and go, but none has surprised me as much as the disappearance of Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub. From a Star report:

The popular Fionn MacCool's Irish Pub in Fishers has closed its doors.

The economy is to blame for the closure, the restaurant said in a letter to staff and customers on its Facebook page.

"2009 has been a challenging year for most of us and it is with deep regret that we are not able to withstand the economic crisis and must close our business," the message says.

It appears the restaurant closed Wednesday.

The restaurant, which has been open for about four years, won the Fishers Chamber of Commerce's Pillar Award for Business of the Year this fall. The chamber confirmed the restaurant is out of business.

The first one I noticed to come and go was a Chinese restaurant at Commercial, north of 116th. As soon as it opened, I got take out, and Ame really loved their tofu dishes. They were closed within three months. Who gives a start-up three months?

That space then became a Mexican-Guatamalan restaurant and bakery. It was a weird combination. Guatamalan food is pretty bland, and when I think 'fresh baked bread', I neither think "Mexico" nor "Guatamala". They were open about two years. Now the space is going to be BBQ.

The same strip had Stefano's, which closed earlier this year. Awesome garlic knots, possibly the worst marinara I've ever had. It tasted like it was overboiled for days. It was so bad I went back twice to see if it was an overboil, or if it was just that bad. It was just that bad. You really don't have a prayer with an Italian joint if you make lousy marinara.

There was a Dick's Bodacious BBQ on 116th at I-69. That's a Qdoba now.

There was a decent Indian restaurant on Allisonville south of 116th, run by very sweet people. It is now a chain Mexican place.

There was an Iranian restaurant on 116th across from the Town Center. It is now a Sushi joint. Ame & I went there Thursday. Good food, if pricey.

A former Boston Market is now a McDonald's. A Burger King is now a bank! Two Quizno's locations have vanished. A La Hacienda Mexican location that had a great daily lunch crowd disappeared. That space has been vacant for about two years.

There are still a lot of restaurants, and interesting ones at that. I love India Sizzling. I buy more groceries than anything at Al-Basha. Excellent fresh pita there! Friend Bill Smythe operates Claude & Annie's, which was one of my old poker haunts. I tease my friend Andrew about Ram, since he moved away and misses their beers. Among others.

I don't know why Fishers is a revolving door for restaurants. Many of those that vanished were pretty good. Is it the rent? The economy? Poor management? When your Town's 'Business of the Year' fails in the year it wins the award, you have to wonder what's going on.

Nader Says What?

Again? From the Daily Beast:

“This is what I meant a year ago when I said the next year will determine whether Barack Obama will be an Uncle Tom groveling before the demands of the corporations.”

Whoa. A white guy calling President Obama an 'Uncle Tom'? That's... That's something. I'm speechless.

I have a general schadenfreude buzz as the various elements of the left experience cognitive dissonance, as Obama isn't left enough. It does remind me greatly of the Bush years, where the right experienced the same not-far-enough frustration. But, I also take it as a genuinely good sign.

Nader cited a number of cases in which he was encouraged to see people he considered loyal Democrats stand up to their lawmakers on principle.

“Markos, he finally turns around—this guy is an indentured servant of the Democratic Party, and he’s finally breaking.. [Arianna Huffington] is chirping up,” he said. “And they go a long way—they’ve given Obama the biggest elastic band in Democratic Party history and it’s reaching the point of snapping.”

While I don't hope they get their way in bringing the President and the Congress around to a fully socialized health care system, I do hope they get to them on civil liberties issues- Patriot Act, the fairly pointless wars, warrentless wiretapping, and the war on drugs.

I don't believe Obama will listen to his critics on the right, so opportunity lies with his critics on the left. Fan the flames!

Update: I really hate posting from my MacBook. The posts always look like crap when I do, and I never have the energy to figure it out. I want point-and-click uniformity and simplicity!

Let Me Be Clear: His Lips Are Moving!

Reason's Jacob Sullum really hits one out of the park on Obama's rhetorical BS. I especially am sick of the phrase, "Let me be clear". I really like how Sullum addresses it:

From now on, when you hear Obama speak, try replacing “let me be clear” with “let me lie to you,” and see if it makes more sense.

That makes perfect sense to me. Whenever I listen to Obama's speeches, I find that he's trying to disarm opposition as the first order of business. I understand the need to win the argument in order to carry the day, but I never feel he has it quite right. Maybe that's by design.

Obama’s depiction of his critics is a bit further removed from reality. In the health care debate, he says, “there are those who simply don't believe Washington can bring about this change”; “there are those who will say that we do not go far enough”; “there are those who would have us try what has already failed, who would defend the status quo”; “there are those who will oppose reform no matter what”; and “there are those who want to seek political advantage.”

What about those who do not like the status quo but have a different vision of reform, not because they want to go farther than Obama does but because they want to go in a different direction, toward more choice, more competition, and less government involvement? In Obama’s world, they do not exist; instead we have his bold yet achievable plan, pitted against socialist utopianism and blind partisan intransigence. Let me be clear: This is a false choice.

The formula is exposed. A truly brilliant analytical article. Required reading. Send the linkage far and wide.

Copper Rush?

I was reading an online article in the UK's Telegraph that had me a bit baffled. The lede had to do with Al Gore as getting rich on environmental policy- then had nothing to back up the assertion.

But, I soldiered on, and came to something of genuine interest- the likely huge increases in the use- and mining of- copper, in these hybrid and electric cars.

According to research by the European Copper Institute, hybrid cars need a staggering 33kg of copper in their construction – about the weight of an average 12-year-old child. This compares with 20kg – 25kg of copper in a conventional car.

About 3kg extra is needed for the electric compressor, the converter/rectifier needs 2kg, the lithium-ion battery needs 8kg and high voltage wiring requires a further 8kg.

"2010 could be the year of the electric car," says Harvey Perkins, associate partner at KPMG. "By exempting electric company cars from company car tax and giving them 100pc first year capital allowances, it will encourage fleets to invest and encourage production.

Although the incentive is not huge because of the expense of electric vehicles, Mr Perkins thinks it will "seed the market".

On Tuesday last week, Ford said that it would invest up to $500m (£307m) to assemble hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars, as well as the construction lithium-ion batteries in Michigan, if it received tax credits from the state. Currently only the development of batteries for plug-in vehicles garners these credits in the US.

Lithium is another commodity that should do very well out of the rush to sustainability. The US Department of Energy is supporting the development of lithium batteries, with President Obama President Barack Obama unveiling $2.4bn of funding in March to develop generation plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Lithium battery development is key to this strategy, although the more immediate beneficiary is likely to be copper.

Fears are growing that a serious shortage of mine capacity across the world will lead to the copper market moving into a serious deficit from 2013 and beyond.

Maybe gold isn't the only metal to add to one's portfolio. Shortages are great opportunities.

Ok, it was said that the increased use of copper will decrease the production of carbon. Great. But, how much carbon will the increased mining of copper create, and will the offset be a net gain? And, what environmental damage will be caused by the copper mining? And, if we run out of copper, then what?

Worth noting that although we never seem to run out of any natural resource, animals do become extinct despite their ability to reproduce. How is it that man can find ever more ways of prizing out of the ground more and more of a finite substance, including those (like oil or coal) that were predicted in the 1970s to be exhausted by now?

Green Line Eats Green

The Indy Star is touting IndyGo's Green Line from the airport as some kind of winner. If it's a winner, the bar must be set below the low hurdle of mediocrity. From the report:

So far, the Green Line isn't profitable. All of the express lines need a federal subsidy.

"It is unlikely to make money given the hours" that public transportation has to be available, Terry said. The Green Line runs from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.

Green Line driver Dennis Harrell said the bus is often full and, sometimes, his passengers are celebrities, such as the players and managers attending this month's winter meetings of Major League Baseball in Indianapolis.

"We do see the Green Line starting to pick up, and it is one of the areas we will focus on next year. It has been getting better as we continue to tweak the routes," Terry said.

The Green Line was carrying about 300 to 400 passengers a month when it started in 2007, but the numbers had grown to 3,868 in October. There were nearly 23,000 through the first 10 months of this year, an increase of 94 percent from the same period last year, said IndyGo spokeswoman Jenny Brown.

Why is it unlikely to make money during those hours? Given the quote, one might expect the buses running from Midnight to 4am.

23,000 passengers? That many cars pass over I-465 in half a day. Etc.

I tire of the waste. If there is to be public transportation, the riders should pay for it. Raise the fares, and make it so. And, don't hand me the similarly tiring line, 'Well the roads are also subsidized'. No shit. You don't say. So, because we do one thing wrong, we should do another wrong, eh? We can as easily make user fees pay for the roads entirely as we can the buses. So, the reality is that our system is designed really as a transfer of wealth, to those who enjoy transportation, public or private, from those who very frequently do not.

There's your waste. Cut, cut cut.

Keynesian Spending Is Practical?

A recent comment asserted that free market advocates are idealogues, while Keynesian advocates are realists. I think that's crap. Both are idealogues. That's okay with me. If you don't have ideals to draw from, what is your compass? One has to solve a problem by some means, and I think for most people, their idealism becomes their realism. Certainly, it does for me. But in our goofy world, one is deemed practical when they cross their ideology.

The real outcomes are what matters. So, what of the stimulus spending? First off, let's not forget that stimulus spending is both a Bush and Obama solution. From Chris Edwards, at the Cato Institute:

In his Brookings Institution speech yesterday, President Obama called for more Keynesian-style spending stimulus for the economy, including increased investment on government projects and expanded subsidy payments to the unemployed and state governments. The package might cost $150 billion or more.

The president said that we’ve had to “spend our way out of this recession.” We’ve certainly had massive spending, but it doesn’t seemed to have helped the economy, as the 10 percent unemployment rate attests to.

It’s not just that the Obama “stimulus” package from February has apparently failed. The total Keynesian stimulus is not measured by the spending in that bill only, but by the total size of federal government deficits.

I'm struck by the chart... which I cannot seem to add right now. It's worth clicking through to.

I would argue that Keynesian economics is dogma for Democrats, (and for the liberal Republicans like Bush) but doesn't appear very practical in terms of boosting the economy. We haven't even seen the inflation yet. Look out! Perhaps it has been very practical in boosting this President's poularity, even while it did nothing for Bush. It's all very curious. In any case, maybe it's time for Obama to become truly practical by today's odd standard of the word, and start adopting some market solutions.

Mourdock at Cato

I finally listened to the Cato Daily Podcasts from October 23 & 26, to hear Indiana's Treasurer's take on the Chrysler bailout, and how it affected funds for the Indiana teacher's union and state police. He made a convincing Constitutional and moral case that those holding secured assets should have been first in line for payoff at bankruptcy, and not facing pennies on the dollar.

Go to the Cato Daily Podcast archive via this link, and look for the Oct 23 installment titled "Fallout from Chrysler's Bankruptcy featuring Richard Mourdock", and the Oct. 26 installment titled "Obama Versus the Rule of Law".

You Can Never Go Wrong Underestimating...

Abandon ye all hope. "Petitioning" to increase inflation to 100%. The man should be fearing for his life. Alas.



At least one man stood his ground and refused to sign.

Why I Don't Trust Government

Sometimes when I get into a political discussion, I find myself being asked why I have an almost total, reflexive instinct to not trust government. Why is it that I won't give the benefit of the doubt.

Unlimited evidence?

Let's put it this way: Why should I trust our government to not make health care in this country 100% worse, when this sort of thing can be permitted by that same government, per ABC News:

At least 12 members of Osama bin Laden's family currently hold Federal Aviation Administration pilot's licenses that make them eligible to fly aircraft anywhere in the United States, including three who received their licenses just this June, according to an analysis of FAA records provided to ABC News by a computer security firm, Safe Banking Systems.

One of the three who received his FAA licenses this year, Yeslam bin Laden, a half-brother of Osama who lives in Geneva, Switzerland, is named in a civil lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims alleging he helped to finance Osama's al-Qaeda network as it started up in the 1990s in Yemen and the Sudan.

I scarcely know where to begin.

We're at war in order to find Osama bin Laden. This is because he commanded men TO FLY PLANES INTO BUILDINGS.

I'm not in favor of our current wars, but if I were in charge of the thing, we would be done within two weeks. Bin Laden's half-brother filled out an application! For the love of all that is good and decent, stroll up to his address, grab that man, and maybe a half-dozen of the other kin, and let the ransoming begin!

The ineptitude is staggering. Why do I not trust government? That's rich. Good one.

Great Post On Copenhagen Global Warming Issues

Reason Magazine's Nick Gillespie put together a fantastic post on Reason's Hit & Run blog, covering several different angles that lead up to a handful of conclusions, but mainly: the majority of American don't want to see a sweeping solution that could hurt the economy.

I'm no expert, but I find it reasonable to believe that man's pollution could impact climate globally. However, I don't believe that capping emissions in the USA at the rates frequently discussed are worth doing. Just as Bush's pre-emptive war struck me as a huge, out-of-proportion response to a low probability possible future catastrophic outcome, the usual cap solutions I see strike me as parallels.

Also, I've long been skeptical of the environmentalist Chicken Little approach. When the Al Gore's of the world had been shutting down skeptical inquiry, declaring the debate was over, it began to become religion and not science so far as I could see. Those climategate emails did nothing to improve that view.

I say, have a nice meeting in Copenhagen, and the US should do nothing more than China or India do.

Indy, or Alabama

This is my 7th Winter here in Central Indiana, and I remain floored at the inability of locals to drive properly when there is a little snow and ice on the ground. I would expect people in Alabama or Florida to not know how to manage, but Indianapolis? On my short drive with my little girl to her school, there were two cars run off into the ditch- on straight sections of road! The passage took 2x as long as usual. This snow and ice was nothing. Zippo.

Slow down, tap the brakes, learn which way to cut the wheel if you're sliding.

Gun Owners & Sex Offenders

Sex offenders have their home address information made public thanks to Megan's Law, with the idea being that people who have children have a right to know. That idea is controversial for some people, on the grounds that those who have served their time should not have to wear the Scarlet Letter after completion of sentence.

Along comes the Bloomington Herald-Times, with this announcement:

"This week, HeraldTimesOnline.com will launch its new gun permit database. You'll be able to search gun permit records by county, city or town and street."

Why should gun owners be treated on par with sex offenders? What compelling interest does the public have in knowing who has legally registered a firearm? Who is it that the Herald-Times hopes to help?

One who might benefit from such info? A would-be robber. "Not going to Kole's house, but I see that on his street there is a string of five houses in a row without firearms. Hmm. Think I'll hit the middle one, as far from armed residents as possible."

Maybe if we're publishing the names and addresses of people who legally enjoy the 2nd Amendment, we can publish the names and addresses of people who enjoy the 1st, such as newspaper journalists. Well, no. That's just a knee-jerk reaction towards serving one a dose of his own medicine. It would serve them right, but wouldn't serve liberty too well. *sigh*

(h/t Libertarian Party of Indiana, Duncan Adams, Sean Shepard, Andy Horning)

Quick Reactions To Obama's Speech

The biggest thing I came away with from the President's Afghanistan policy was the middle of the road approach that is bound to give everyone something to dislike.

1. The Right is going to hate the timeline. Easy to criticize: All the enemy has to do is lay low until 2011. Then, back into action. Also, the Republicans find religion and suddenly this war is too expensive. That wasn't a problem when their team led, naturally.

2. The Left has so much to dislike, ranging from the simple fact of escalation, to the foreshadowing of deeper involvement in Pakistan. In fact, by the end of the speech, I began to conclude that Obama was really preparing the American people for an eventual war in Pakistan. Well, that's what a foreign policy of interventionism will do for you.

As for me, I still don't like the fact that the war was not Constitutionally declared by Congress, and that it represents a near continuous 60+ year stream of wars under the bi-partisan policy of interventionism. I'm war weary already. "All we are saying..."

The reasons and justifications sounded just like the reasons and justifications coming from the Bush White House over the previous seven years. I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now. This isn't the 'right war'. The right war would deal with the people behind the 9/11 attacks. The right strategy would involve a whole lot more intelligence, and no occupation of foreign lands. The Obama plan appears to be in line with Bush's pre-emptive war. Rooting out would-be terrorists who might attack us? This made Bush a liar and a dunce, as I recall.

No sir, I don't like it. The speech was lovely. The policy is crap.

Bush's Third Term Continues

Obama, the Peace Candidate. McCain is Bush's Third Term. Endless War. So many things I saw on bumper stickers 13 months ago. So many similar sentiments expressed by the left's bloggers. So much in the world of foreign policy that looks just as it would have had McCain won, or had Bush just stayed in office. Iraq was a quagmire and a failed war 13 months ago. We're still there. They hate us because we intervene, said the Left. Are we loved now for our intervention? Afghanistan is the real quagmire, as we should have learned from the Soviet experience, but we're getting ourselves in deeper. From CNN's report:

On Tuesday, Obama will travel to West Point, New York, to announce his decision on a request by McChrystal for up to 40,000 additional troops.

Obama is expected to send more than 30,000 U.S. troops and seek further troop commitments from NATO allies as part of a counterinsurgency strategy to wipe out al Qaeda elements and stabilize the country while training Afghan forces.

Ok, anti-war, anti-Bush folks. How does this rub you? How's that Change (tm) thing working out for you? Or, is it okay because your guy is leading the way?

I Like Trains, But...

Russia's high speed passenger train apparently derailed. Per CNN:

A passenger train running from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed Friday, causing 25 deaths and 63 injuries, state-run Russian television reported.

Russian state radio said the crash occurred 280 km (174 miles) from St. Petersburg at 9:34 p.m. (1:34 p.m. ET). Rescue workers were trying to free people trapped under the carriages of the Nevsky Express that overturned.

Well, it's the technology of yestercentury. These things are bound to happen.

By The Same Token, Obama's Allure

Just as I don't get Sarah Palin's great allure among so many conservatives, I'm similarly not understanding the very high approval ratings President Obama gets among Democrats. Pollster.com compiles polling data from the polls you know, and places Obama's approval rating among Democrats above 82%.

Are Democrats no deeper than, "He's on our team, he's not on their team, so he's obviously great"? It's hard to argue against.

1. Obama has essentially affirmed the Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by remaining and extending the wars.

2. Obama did a stimulus package that was merely bigger than Bush's.

3. Still in Gitmo.

4. Still maintaining the Bush policy of indefinite detention.

5. Could have significantly scaled back the war on drugs when the Mexican border militarized. Instead, laughed.

6. Still have the Patriot Act. No push to repeal coming from on high.

Obama reminds me an awful lot of George Bush, and not just because their foreign policy is identical in execution, if different in tenor. Mainly, Bush ignored a huge part of his base, the fiscal conservatives, expecting (and largely getting) continuing support on the strength of the oh-so-deep consideration of "at least he's on our team". Now, Obama does nothing for civil libertarians, or worse, and expects that if they are Democrats, they can't possibly go anywhere else.

I guess Obama is gambling correctly. The silence is deafening. Those who made issue of the war before the election of Obama are largely gone. Etc.

What Is Palin's Allure?

I don't get it. If you can't hang with Katie Couric in an interview, etc., how do you translate yourself as big-stage political material? Are conservatives that desperate? Apparently, yes they are. A thousand lined up in Noblesville, one town north of me, to get 30 seconds of face time and a book signed. From the Indy Star report:

Best-selling author Sarah Palin pulled in the parking lot of Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville at 5:40 p.m. to a crowd chanting her name.

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah ..."

She got off the bus holding her youngest son, 19-month-old Trig. At the podium, she thanked everyone waiting in the rain for her arrival. People had initially been in line starting around 7 a.m. today to get 1,000 wristbands, used to limit the number of people getting books signed. They lined up again about 3 p.m. to prepare to enter the store. She called them good hard-working Americans, the people from whom she wrote her book "Going Rogue."

I can see going if you gave money during the Presidential run, although if I had, it might be to demand answers more than anything.

But really, what's the allure? I remember the Couric interview, where she said in essense that the bailout had to be done. That's a deal-killer for me, straight away. I don't get how 'conservatives' can be so excited about a fiscal liberal. Is it that her other 'conservative' bona fides simply cancel out everything else with so many Republicans? I just don't get it.

No Ash Borers Here So Far

I keep an eye on reports like the one at the Indy Star today, advising of more Ash Borers being spotted in a variety of Indiana locations:

The tree-killing emerald ash borer has reached another four Indiana counties, boosting the insect’s foothold in the state to 30 counties.

State wildlife officials say the invasive green beetle has been found in Delaware and Jay counties in east-central Indiana, Miami County in the state’s north-central region and Washington County in far Southern Indiana.

My home county, Hamilton, is one of those under quarantine, meaning that you aren't supposed to transport ash from the county, due to observed infestation. Fortunately, I haven't seen any of the buggers yet on my lot. About a third of the trees in our woods are ash, and I'd hate to see those things kill so many trees. One ash, the biggest naturally, was hit by lightning last year, and we cut it down in Spring. The wood wasn't going anywhere, but to our fireplace, probably beginning in the next couple weeks.